Memory and Dream

Rating:
Summary: A tale well told...
Review: ...with characters that de Lint makes you care about (or hate, as the case may be) and a plot that jumps back and forth in time, continually unfolding. Good stuff here.

Rating:
Summary: Shows us the world is a magical place
Review: After I read _Memory and Dream_, I stumbled around for about a week just thinking, "Wow..." De Lint's work often affects me that way, but this book did it to me even more than usual. I think it's because the characters who populate De Lint's stories are so much like people I know. Most people don't tend to write about people I know, or people who think the way I do.

The story is a deceptively simple one of an artist who is going through a change in her life being forced to own her past and her power. But although the theme is one that is seen often, De Lint makes it real in a way that no one else can. He has a very good heart knowledge of the true pain of life and he presents it in a way that neither minimizes it nor romanticizes it. He does the same with his urban settings; this is not a clean or perfect world, and stories are just as likely to happen in an alley as in a mansion.

Because the settings and the characters are so real, it is easy to believe in the fantasy elements. De Lint's work often deals with the lives and experiences of artists, musicians, and storytellers. Their work is a kind of magic anyway; all De Lint does is make the magic more vivid. He really shows us how the world is a magical place, and when everyone else is saying real magic is dead that's a message I want to hear over and over again.

Rating:
Summary: Shows us the world is a magical place
Review: After I read _Memory and Dream_, I stumbled around for about a week just thinking, "Wow..." De Lint's work often affects me that way, but this book did it to me even more than usual. I think it's because the characters who populate De Lint's stories are so much like people I know. Most people don't tend to write about people I know, or people who think the way I do.

The story is a deceptively simple one of an artist who is going through a change in her life being forced to own her past and her power. But although the theme is one that is seen often, De Lint makes it real in a way that no one else can. He has a very good heart knowledge of the true pain of life and he presents it in a way that neither minimizes it nor romanticizes it. He does the same with his urban settings; this is not a clean or perfect world, and stories are just as likely to happen in an alley as in a mansion.

Because the settings and the characters are so real, it is easy to believe in the fantasy elements. De Lint's work often deals with the lives and experiences of artists, musicians, and storytellers. Their work is a kind of magic anyway; all De Lint does is make the magic more vivid. He really shows us how the world is a magical place, and when everyone else is saying real magic is dead that's a message I want to hear over and over again.

Rating:
Summary: How real is art?
Review: Charles de Lint is a popular writer in the genre known as urban fantasy -stories that place traditional magical elements into a contemporary setting. In Memory & Dream, de Lint takes a fascinating look at the creative process and explores the possibility of artists who can literally create reality. The novel jumps between the present (the early 90s) and the past twenty years leading up to it. Isabelle is an artist who falls under the spell of an enigmatic mentor named Rushkin, a famous reclusive artist. Rushkin teaches Isabelle about painting, and she learns far more from him than from the art classes she takes at college. Yet Rushkin has a very dark side as well, which turns out to be much deeper than she realizes.

Through Rushkin, Isabelle learns that she has the ability to "bring across" creatures that she paints. These entities become actual flesh and blood beings with lives of their own. She falls in love with one of her own creations, an American Indian named John. This ability poses many complications for Isabelle and the people around her. She cannot quite believe that these creatures are real in the human sense. Rushkin, meanwhile, reveals ulterior motives for teaching Isabelle and is soon creating "numena" (the name given these creatures) of his own, which turn out to be evil counterparts to the ones Isabelle creates.
I think the real theme of Memory & Dream is the relationship between art and reality. Isabelle's best friend Katherine is a troubled writer, and she plays an important role in inspiring some of Isabelle's painting. So, the question arises, if a writer puts a character in a story, and an artists paints it, who is the creator? Or, is the answer, "neither," because these creations actually have an existence of their own in a kind of Platonic universe, waiting to be brought into our world by artists?

While these are fascinating questions, I don't want to give the impression that Memory & Dream is a purely intellectual or philosophical novel. It is primarily a very suspenseful story with engaging characters who live in a magical universe. I have read several of de Lint's books (this one twice), and he is one of my favorite contemporary fantasy authors.

Rating:
Summary: How real is art?
Review: Charles de Lint is a popular writer in the genre known as urban fantasy -stories that place traditional magical elements into a contemporary setting. In Memory & Dream, de Lint takes a fascinating look at the creative process and explores the possibility of artists who can literally create reality. The novel jumps between the present (the early 90s) and the past twenty years leading up to it. Isabelle is an artist who falls under the spell of an enigmatic mentor named Rushkin, a famous reclusive artist. Rushkin teaches Isabelle about painting, and she learns far more from him than from the art classes she takes at college. Yet Rushkin has a very dark side as well, which turns out to be much deeper than she realizes.

Through Rushkin, Isabelle learns that she has the ability to "bring across" creatures that she paints. These entities become actual flesh and blood beings with lives of their own. She falls in love with one of her own creations, an American Indian named John. This ability poses many complications for Isabelle and the people around her. She cannot quite believe that these creatures are real in the human sense. Rushkin, meanwhile, reveals ulterior motives for teaching Isabelle and is soon creating "numena" (the name given these creatures) of his own, which turn out to be evil counterparts to the ones Isabelle creates.
I think the real theme of Memory & Dream is the relationship between art and reality. Isabelle's best friend Katherine is a troubled writer, and she plays an important role in inspiring some of Isabelle's painting. So, the question arises, if a writer puts a character in a story, and an artists paints it, who is the creator? Or, is the answer, "neither," because these creations actually have an existence of their own in a kind of Platonic universe, waiting to be brought into our world by artists?

While these are fascinating questions, I don't want to give the impression that Memory & Dream is a purely intellectual or philosophical novel. It is primarily a very suspenseful story with engaging characters who live in a magical universe. I have read several of de Lint's books (this one twice), and he is one of my favorite contemporary fantasy authors.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story of intrigue and fantasy
Review: I picked this book up on a whim,and I really am glad that I did. The story has kept me intruiged and wanting more. As an artist my self I really enjoyed the story of Isabelle, her paintings and the mystery that surrounds them. It is well worth the time to read it, plus it is short. I am now a Charles de Lint fan and will search out his other books.

Rating:
Summary: An Emotionally Moving Urban Fantasy
Review: I really didn't think I'd like this book. I usually try to avoid fantasy books without any science. I avoid them because they are either simplistic rehashes or cliche. There seems to be too much of this fantasy stuff around and much of it mediocre, and I avoided Charles De Lint as seemingly in this category. Finally though the cover and title of this book grabbed me and I tried it. I was really surprised at how this book kept my interest and really made me feel for the characters. Memory and Dream is a beautiful book that made me recall the love, memories, sadness, pain, redemption, forgiveness, and letting go that we all have to do with our dreams, pasts, and artistic creations. The book made me cry and laugh and feel..and that's what a dream should do...

Rating:
Summary: Where does fantasy begin and reality end?
Review: Memory and Dream made it into my reading list as a study of sorts. The fiction I've written and that I want to write perhaps best fits into the categories of magical realism and urban/contemporary fantasy. De Lint is considered by many to be one of the masters of the latter sub-genre, and Memory and Dream a representative work.

Memory and Dream is very different from the fantasy that I'm used to reading--it starts slowly, and devotes a lot of time developing the main character (an art student named Izzy) and her relationships with her brilliant but abusive mentor, her best friend and roommate, and the spirits that she brings into this world through her painting. De Lint doesn't have to spend as much time on world creation as traditional fantasists, but the world he creates and the rules of magic in it are believable and detailed.

I love reading introspective writing, and you could say that Memory and Dream is as much about Izzy and her paintings as it is about de Lint and his books and about any artist/author and the children that they so painstakingly create and then send forth into the world. The numena that Izzy brings into this world through her art are tied to their paintings--destroy the painting and you kill the numena. At first she refuses to sell them (or even display them much), feeling that they are much safer in her hands. Later (after talking to some of the beings she is responsible for bringing across), she is able to sell some of the paintings, and regrets it when she finds that some are killed (devoured, in a sense).

Both parents and artists can relate to Izzy's struggles, as we inject a portion of our souls into our children (of the brush, of the mind, of the loins) and then set them free to experience for themselves this harsh and beautiful world. And anything set free in this way ultimately asserts its own influence and is in turn transformed by the world, for better or for worse.

Rating:
Summary: This book was a real journey through my past
Review: This book hit a very strong chord with me.....for much of my young life I struggled to be an artist and while my creations didn't have the true magic Isabelle's did, to me and my friends they did...it was very emotional journey for me to read this book, in some ways it mirrored my life and in others it was vastly different. Even in the real world to be an artist is a magical thing and so much of what De Lint puts in this tale deals with what it is like to really be an artist, I just love it.
It is an amazing story and one of CDL's absolute best..dark and terrifying at points, beautuful and magical in others. This book is brilliant and will always remain one of my favorites...

Rating:
Summary: One of De Lint's strongest
Review: This book is very near the top of my favorites list. "Memory & Dream" is one of the most emotionally powerful books I have read. I felt such a strong connection to the characters, and found myself mirroring their emotions as they felt them. Anyone who has ever felt unsure of herself will see some of herself in Isabelle, and Kathy's story will absolutely break your heart. Rosalind and Cosette make me smile whenever I think of them. This book will make you laugh and cry, and you'll feel as though you have made a whole new set of friends that you'll have to revisit again and again.